These past two days, Huihui has been quite fed up; he's almost considering running away from home.
That burly Golden Cat keeps coming over to squeeze him, even taking over the cozy nest.
Huihui sulked while lying on a branch, when suddenly that noisy Golden Cat's voice rang in his ears again.
He impatiently held his head with his paws, pondered for a bit, and decided to leave home for a while.
That burly Golden Cat is always clinging to Mommy Jin Ya. Huihui didn't want to cross paths with it, so he went to leave a message with Uncle Leopard and then dashed into the woods.
Little Jin quietly watched Huihui leave from the platform, then glanced at Pang Jin, who still thought of himself as a baby, sighed in frustration, lay down on his side, rolled over twice, hugged his tail, and closed his eyes to sleep.
Pang Jin had been causing trouble in the infirmary for several days, finally angering Jin Ya. Early one morning, after a chasing and a good beating, Pang Jin finally returned to normal and stopped his antics.
"Did you decide to stay?"
"Yes, Dad. I've been to many places, but this is still the best. I've already chosen my territory. There's only a female cat with her cubs, and the old male from before is too old to be a match for me. If he's sensible, I won't drive him away, but he can't fight me for resources, otherwise I'll bite him to death."
Pang Jin flashed four sharp teeth with a rather villainous smile.
"Dad and Mommy Jin Ya can hunt in my territory, and I can protect you both."
Little Jin slapped his head with his paw, "I'm not old enough to need you to take care of me."
Actually, Little Jin was still in his prime. Pang Jin was the first cub they rescued when he and Jin Ya became adults, so technically, Pang Jin could call them brother and sister.
Pang Jin stretched lazily and prepared to leave to patrol his territory.
"I'll look after that long-haired little guy. Don't worry, Dad. I'm very capable."
Little Jin nodded, casually licked Pang Jin's head.
"Go, and come back if you need help."
Pang Jin grunted, shook his chubby little body, and quickly disappeared.
Huihui had been living outdoors for the past few days, settling down not far from the Golden Cat Cub's nest. He liked to hunt slightly larger prey, which could feed him for two or three days at a time.
The leftover meat was tossed into the woods between his temporary nest and the cub's nest. Perhaps it carried his scent, as other carnivores—besides the mother Golden Cat with cubs—would only take a few licks and dare not eat too much.
Initially, the Golden Cat Mother didn't dare eat, but upon discovering it was Huihui's doing, she was no longer polite about it.
These two days, she mainly took the babies to practice hunting, going out early and returning late. However, the food caught wasn't enough to feed all five cats, so Huihui's "feeding" solved a large portion of the problem.
After filling their bellies, the Golden Cat Mother would find a comfy place to nap, while the four little cats—already not so small—would tumble and pounce on the grass in the forest, practicing their hunting skills on each other.
A while back, after the heavy snow, it stayed sunny for several days.
The forest snow melted, leaving the ground a bit cold and wet.
Feline animals don't like wet environments, and the place where the cubs played had a patch of creeping branches. After playing for a long time, the branches broke, revealing some small puddles reflecting faintly with water.
A waterbuck passed by here, ignoring the spinning, tumbling little cats.
These little guys couldn't even scratch the tough hide of a waterbuck, so what was there to be cautious about?
As for Lynx Huihui, as soon as the waterbuck discovered his presence, it quickly ran off.
The four cat cubs huddled together, watching as the waterbuck vanished, and after a moment of silence, prepared to go back to sleep.
Just then, a silly-looking mountain rat scurried nearby.
The cat cubs might be helpless against the big tough waterbuck, but they wouldn't let a mountain rat taunt them.
Without a sound, they launched into action, instantly blocking the mountain rat's escape routes.
The mountain rat frantically tried to dig a burrow to hide, but before it could start, a large figure descended from the sky, biting through its neck in one swift motion.
The sudden turn of events startled the four little cats into cries. The two fastest ones rolled and crawled to find their mom, while the other two arched their backs, fluffed up their fur, and unleashed their "Angry Kitten" skill at the intruder.
Pang Jin held the plump mountain rat, looking sideways at the two cubs.
Feeling playful, he got the urge to scare the two who dared to bare their teeth at him.
However, before Golden Cat Mother could arrive to save the cubs, Huihui struck first, ramming into Pang Jin and knocking him over a meter away, with the mountain rat flying off as well.
Huihui stood protectively in front of the two cubs, baring his teeth at Pang Jin.
Pang Jin was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and shouted up.
"Meow, I was just joking around; why are you so fierce? I'm your brother. You dare roar at me? I'll tell Mom on you later."
Huihui looked at him incredulously.
He's seen plenty of mischievous siblings—Aunt Er Niu's few kids are quite the troublemakers—but he'd never encountered someone as thick-skinned as Pang Jin, and didn't quite know how to respond.
By then, Golden Cat Mother had arrived on the scene, and without a word, delivered her answer.
Slapping him down with a few hefty paws, Pang Jin yelped that if she continued, he'd fight back.
The Golden Cat Mother was nearly appeased, but hearing him say that, her anger flared up again. This time, slapping wouldn't suffice; she needed to use claws and teeth to really make him feel the pain.